The novel centers on David Wolfe, a Jewish-American lawyer from San Francisco, whose political future, successful law career, and impending marriage are put at risk when his Palestinian ex-lover, Hana Arif, is charged with complicity in the murder by suicide bombing of an Israeli Prime Minister and outspoken peace advocate. Within the conventions of a political thriller, the noir backdrop of an international intrigue, and the pulsating narrative of a love story, Patterson contrives to apply the values of good fiction to the nuanced circumstances of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But it is the parallel story of Patterson’s own journey, who like the protagonist David Wolfe must return to Israel in search of truth amongst conflicting facts and competing allegiances, which provides the substance for his conversation with the Voice of the Art’s own David Lewis.
In this first segment of our two-part interview, Richard North Patterson explains why Exile might be the only book ever written to be jointly dedicated to Alan Dershowitz (author of The Case For Israel) and James Zogby (the founder/president of the Arab American Institute and vocal champion of Palestinian independence). He recounts the manifold and intertwining directions of his research which brought him into contact with a motley group of contributors ranging from elected leaders, political operatives, innocent bystanders, and militant fundamentalists. He describes how he navigated the many competing claims of authenticity and managed not to be trapped into choosing ideological sides. And, he answers, without giving away too much of the plot of course, the underlying question of the novel – “When does history begin?”

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